Liberal mental patient posing as Marine war veteran facing federal warrant

[PatekPhilippe]

But...how about those of us on the Left who are real veterans?

They have my respect and a salute...they served and still serve....... alongside me.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

People like Lost Soul are stupid beyond belief sometimes. If you tend to use one person to represent a whole party, then the Left could use Dubya to represent the Right. I mean, at least that one is more justified considering you guys did vote him in twice.

Except Bush was not from the right, He was center and a bit right, maybe on a good day. That you dumb asses think he was far right is beyond hilarious.

 

[murray1234]

I have trouble seeing this as a "left vs. right" issue.

Its an issue of a very fucked up person pulling shit he shouldnt have. Period.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

Not left or right? Ok name the right side examples of liars claiming to be vets and being FEATURED in right wing ads,papers or rallies. The right wing liars forming political groups and getting solid support from the mainstream right wing groups.

 

[Emma]

Well the majority of the left is anti war and has used these fake veterans as a means to attack the Iraq war.

Kudos to Obama's Justice Department for prosecuting this person.

 

[chanel]

It may not be a left/right issue for us, but for the power brokers - politics has become a dirty game of personalizing the opposition. Remember Joe the Plumber?

 

[Lost Soul]

It may not be a left/right issue for us, but for the power brokers - politics has become a dirty game of personalizing the opposition. Remember Joe the Plumber?

Ouch that going to leave a mark........funny how quick they forget.

 

[Lost Soul]

People like Lost Soul are stupid beyond belief sometimes. If you tend to use one person to represent a whole party, then the Left could use Dubya to represent the Right. I mean, at least that one is more justified considering you guys did vote him in twice.

And for people like you that are a sorry piece of shit that don't have the brain capity to understand that only the left has been found guilty of this type of shit. You sit on your face while telling yourself these type of scumbags don't represent the left yet are real quick to say the tea bag rallies and town hall meetings represent the right. So shut your face you hypocrite liar before I make a bigger fool out of you cock breath.

 

[Lost Soul]

You blame all the left for this group?

Well the majority of the left is anti war and has used these fake veterans as a means to attack the Iraq war.

I realize this poser has fooled even some of the left leaning politicans along with a good deal of those on the left. So to answer your question. Yes and no.

Anti-war. That's a pretty horrible thing to be, don't you think?

But...how about those of us on the Left who are real veterans?

I think the majority of Americans are anti war to some point. Esp the ones that have to fight them. Don't these scum that have taken over the anti war movement are nothing but a bunch a anti Americans, socialists, communists and all around sorry sacks of shit.

I think the vets who are anti war are the only people that have the vets best interest at heart. When you get lumped together with the rest of the anti war scum I really feel for you. But you have to remember, you are allowing yourself to be judged by the company you keep.

 

[ba1614]

No offense to the OP, but this is kind of silly. If the guy was a mental patient, then how can we really hold him accountable for posing as a wounded war veteran if it's established that this may have been the result of some mental condition? This means that he didn't have the same type of inhibitors that would prevent a mentally stable person from doing the same thing. Or it could be that this was some sort of desperate grab for attention that a more sane person wouldn't resort to.

Then there's the whole liberal vs. conservative nonsense. I would argue that, if anything, there's more of a tendency of posers leaning towards the right than the left because military service means more to the right than it does to the left when it comes to political gamemanship.

Or, as a good friend of mine once put it: "2,000 qualified SEALs in the Navy, you come across about 5,000 of them online."

Do you not think it a good practice to know who you are using as a spokesman at rallys and in tv ads?

Absolutely! But this is the internet age. No one does real research any more. A couple clicks with the mouse is all it takes.

That's not my point. I don't see this as a vast leftist conspiracy. I see it as nothing more than sloppiness. I think the Obama crowd is equally as chagrined about this.

No, I don't think it's a "leftist conspiracy", or any such thing. I do however think the left should look a little closer at those they put up to further their agenda. In their zeal to advance their agenda of the day they use folks they know nothing about, as long as they are saying what they want to hear.

 

[editec]

Phony Marine due for arrest
Coloradan who posed as wounded Iraq veteran being prosecuted under Stolen Valor Act
By Nancy Lofholm

Rick Glen Strandlof, a former mental patient who posed as a wounded Marine captain to found a statewide veterans group and campaign for political candidates, is being prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act for making claims he received a Purple Heart.

A federal arrest warrant was issued Thursday evening for Strandlof, who used the alias Rick Duncan when he was acting as a spokesman for veterans issues.

Strandlof will be charged with one count of making false claims about receipt of military decorations or medals, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Strandlof, 32, had not been arrested as of Friday evening.

Jeffrey Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Colorado, would not say whether authorities know his whereabouts. Dorschner said only that Strandlof will be brought to Denver to appear before a federal magistrate after he is arrested.

Phony Marine due for arrest - The Denver Post

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else. [Denver Post]

The group that Rick Duncan Strandlof founded the Colorado Veterans Alliance has decided to disband:

But on Thursday the Colorado Veterans Alliance, the organization he founded, announced that it was disbanding, having discovered that his entire story was a sham.

As it turns out, the group said, Rick Duncan is not even Rick Duncan but instead a man named Richard Glen Strandlof.

And Mr. Strandlof, who contrary to his claims never graduated from the Naval Academy or served in the military, is a 32-year-old drifter with a history of at least one criminal conviction, for car theft in Nevada. As a condition of his probation in that case, he was ordered to appear in a mental health court. [New York Times]

Besides being a member of the Colorado Veterans Alliance he was also a member of VoteVets and Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW).

For those that don’t know VoteVets is not really a veterans group. It is a really a liberal advocacy group that claims to speak for the military. The VoteVets.org site, just like the Amnesty International fraud Appeal for Redress group was formed before the 2006 Congressional elections. This site was backed by former Democratic Presidential Candidate General Wesley Clark and the group of retired generals that made headlines before the 2006 Congressional elections by running ads funded by the site speaking out against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a change in strategy in Iraq by sending in more troops.

Interestingly enough even though Rumsfeld had been removed and the new surge strategy in Iraq brought an increase in troops there, VoteVets was still not satisfied. Instead of this site recognizing the changes it had advocated for, it instead become an anti-war site calling for the removal of US troops in Iraq. Since then none of the retired generals has been heard from, but the person we have continued to hear a lot from (for no good reasons) is VoteVets President Jon Soltz who was one of the people willfully fulled by Strandlof. Incredibly the media still calls this group a grassroots movement despite its George Soros connections.

Once again the left are exposed for the frauds they support.

I'm thrilled to hear that one of these fakers is going to pay for pretending to be a wounded veteran.

And I'm a liberal and a veteran.

So much for you hateful theory, eh?

 

[Lost Soul]

Phony Marine due for arrest
Coloradan who posed as wounded Iraq veteran being prosecuted under Stolen Valor Act
By Nancy Lofholm

Rick Glen Strandlof, a former mental patient who posed as a wounded Marine captain to found a statewide veterans group and campaign for political candidates, is being prosecuted under the Stolen Valor Act for making claims he received a Purple Heart.

A federal arrest warrant was issued Thursday evening for Strandlof, who used the alias Rick Duncan when he was acting as a spokesman for veterans issues.

Strandlof will be charged with one count of making false claims about receipt of military decorations or medals, a misdemeanor punishable by a year in jail and a $250,000 fine.

Strandlof, 32, had not been arrested as of Friday evening.

Jeffrey Dorschner, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Colorado, would not say whether authorities know his whereabouts. Dorschner said only that Strandlof will be brought to Denver to appear before a federal magistrate after he is arrested.

Phony Marine due for arrest - The Denver Post

Rick Strandlof, executive director of the Colorado Veterans Alliance and the man most colleagues knew as Rick Duncan, was front and center during the 2008 political campaigns in Colorado.

He spoke at a Barack Obama veterans rally in front of the Capitol in July, co-hosted several events with then- congressional candidate Jared Polis and attacked Republican Senate candidate Bob Schaffer in a TV ad paid for by the national group Votevets.org.

And the mostly Democratic candidates he supported — looking for credibility on veterans issues and the war — lapped it up appreciatively.

Now, politicians are dealing with news that the man they believed to be a former Marine and war veteran wounded in Iraq by a roadside bomb, in fact, never served in the military — but did spend time in a mental hospital.

Many of the candidates he supported won their elections handily and now say they were defrauded as much as anyone else. [Denver Post]

The group that Rick Duncan Strandlof founded the Colorado Veterans Alliance has decided to disband:

But on Thursday the Colorado Veterans Alliance, the organization he founded, announced that it was disbanding, having discovered that his entire story was a sham.

As it turns out, the group said, Rick Duncan is not even Rick Duncan but instead a man named Richard Glen Strandlof.

And Mr. Strandlof, who contrary to his claims never graduated from the Naval Academy or served in the military, is a 32-year-old drifter with a history of at least one criminal conviction, for car theft in Nevada. As a condition of his probation in that case, he was ordered to appear in a mental health court. [New York Times]

Besides being a member of the Colorado Veterans Alliance he was also a member of VoteVets and Iraq Veterans Against War (IVAW).

For those that don’t know VoteVets is not really a veterans group. It is a really a liberal advocacy group that claims to speak for the military. The VoteVets.org site, just like the Amnesty International fraud Appeal for Redress group was formed before the 2006 Congressional elections. This site was backed by former Democratic Presidential Candidate General Wesley Clark and the group of retired generals that made headlines before the 2006 Congressional elections by running ads funded by the site speaking out against former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as well as a change in strategy in Iraq by sending in more troops.

Interestingly enough even though Rumsfeld had been removed and the new surge strategy in Iraq brought an increase in troops there, VoteVets was still not satisfied. Instead of this site recognizing the changes it had advocated for, it instead become an anti-war site calling for the removal of US troops in Iraq. Since then none of the retired generals has been heard from, but the person we have continued to hear a lot from (for no good reasons) is VoteVets President Jon Soltz who was one of the people willfully fulled by Strandlof. Incredibly the media still calls this group a grassroots movement despite its George Soros connections.

Once again the left are exposed for the frauds they support.

I'm thrilled to hear that one of these fakers is going to pay for pretending to be a wounded veteran.

And I'm a liberal and a veteran.

So much for you hateful theory, eh?

Hateful theory? No more like the truth. Sorry that you come down on the side of those that have to fake to get their message out.

 

[paperview]

He is not a mental patient. He was ordered before a mental health Judge once, which absent any evidence appears to have turned him loose. And the left has a long distinguished history of this kind of stupidity, Any one remember Kerry and his fraud groups at the end of the Vietnam War?

According to the story, he had been institutionalized.

"Strandlof was exposed in May after members of the group he founded, the Colorado Veterans Alliance, became suspicious of claims that he had served three tours in Iraq, survived the Sept. 11 terror attacks on the Pentagon, graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy and suffered a brain injury during the battle for the city of


They searched military records and contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation after determining he had never served in the military. The FBI began investigating Strandlof and arrested him in May on an outstanding El Paso County traffic warrant.
In interviews with the FBI and local and national media outlets, Strandlof admitted making up the stories. He said he suffered from mental illness. He had previously been hospitalized in a mental institution in Nevada."

 

[noose4]

most who pull the phony vet thing do so to get the accolades that we often give to real vets, i have run into many phonies and they generally come off with a right wing type attitude and they generally claim to be seals or some other special forces type.

 

[paperview]

No, I don't think it's a "leftist conspiracy", or any such thing. I do however think the left should look a little closer at those they put up to further their agenda. In their zeal to advance their agenda of the day they use folks they know nothing about, as long as they are saying what they want to hear.

For an enlightenment, google up “Stolen Valor Act.”

"This legislation is designed to penalize those who sell phony military medals and decorations, and those who fraudulently claim to be decorated veterans, especially those “who falsely claim to have risked their lives for our country, restoring honor to those who have truly earned it.” -MV


The author of the Stolen Valor legislation: Colorado Congressman John T. Salazar.


In case you didn't know, Salizar is a Democrat.

 

[ba1614]

No, I don't think it's a "leftist conspiracy", or any such thing. I do however think the left should look a little closer at those they put up to further their agenda. In their zeal to advance their agenda of the day they use folks they know nothing about, as long as they are saying what they want to hear.

For an enlightenment, google up “Stolen Valor Act.”

"This legislation is designed to penalize those who sell phony military medals and decorations, and those who fraudulently claim to be decorated veterans, especially those “who falsely claim to have risked their lives for our country, restoring honor to those who have truly earned it.” -MV


The author of the Stolen Valor legislation: Colorado Congressman John T. Salazar.


In case you didn't know, Salizar is a Democrat.

And it's a very good piece of legislation, no disputing that. However my post stands.

 

[Old Rocks]

Lost Soul, you are a hatelfilled liar. Not only is such phoney claims made by those of both political stripes, it is done so with more success by those who are Republican because of the gullibility factor of Republicans. Here in Oregon we have had more than one Republican claiming a combat Vet status whose claims were simply lies. On the National level, there was the television evangelist that made a run for the Republican Presidential candidacy who made a false claim of combat Vet status.

Wes Cooley - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wester Shadric Cooley was born March 28, 1932, in Los Angeles, California. He served in the United States Army from 1952 to 1954, and is described in the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress as a rancher. He owns the vitamin supplements company Rose Laboratories. Cooley graduated from the University of Southern California with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1958.

Cooley was elected to the Oregon State Senate in 1992. He was tagged with the nickname "Wanderin' Wes" because moved his mobile home barely inside his state Senate district just long enough to meet the residency requirement. In 1994, midway through his State Senate term, Cooley was elected to the House of Representatives as a Republican from the 2nd District.

In the 104th Congress, Cooley was an advocate of private property rights, American military superiority, tort reform to limit recovery by plaintiffs, and other planks of the Republican Party's proclaimed Contract with America. Cooley was liked by ranchers and by the mining and timber industries, and he was outspokenly hostile to environmentalists and environmental laws; he once compared U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents to the Gestapo.

[edit] Disputed veterans status
Cooley became embroiled in controversy after it was alleged that he had made false claims about serving in the Korean War. Cooley maintained that he had indeed served in the Korean War but that he was unable to prove his claim because he had served in the top-secret Army Special Forces and had been sworn to secrecy. He also claimed that the records of his service had been "destroyed in a fire", and that his immediate commander, Sergeant Major Clifford Poppy, had been killed in action.

A newspaper reporter tracked down the still-living Poppy, who had not been a member of the Special Forces but a drill instructor who had participated in Cooley's basic training at boot camp. When asked about Cooley's claims, Poppy harshly replied, "Tell him he’s a liar. Tell him Sergeant Poppy said that.” Poppy's response was later corroborated by three other former soldiers who, like many veterans, were concerned about a veteran with disputed status. Cooley responded with a veiled (and unsubstantiated) accusation that Poppy was suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

Cooley became something of a national laughingstock, a caricature of the lying politician. He was a repeat subject of derisive coverage in News of the Weird, as it further came to light that he had "mistakenly" claimed a Phi Beta Kappa key and had fabricated or exaggerated achievements in a world motorcycle competition. When asked about the Phi Beta Kappa "mistake," Cooley responded that he was actually a member of another honor society, but he couldn't recall that society's name. When further pressed on both incidents, he stated that the "liberal media was engaging in character assassination."

The embattled Cooley was additionally plagued by allegations that his wife, Rosemary Herron Cooley (whose first husband died in a military plane crash in 1965), continued to receive benefit checks from the government as the widow of a veteran, several years after she had married Cooley (which would make them both felons, as a widow's benefits immediately cease upon remarriage, and there are severe penalties for falsifying federal documents). Cooley refused to answer questions about the date of his marriage, and his press spokesman explained that before Cooley could make a statement about when he got married, the congressman would first need to gather all the "facts at his disposal." Cooley finally stated they had been married in 1991, which is when his wife had stopped receiving the benefit checks; this was a full six years later than they had previously claimed.

 

[paperview]

STOLEN VALOR - THOSE WHO USURP IT AND THOSE WHO EXPOSE THE PHONYS

"There's some in every country. There are no boundaries for this type of dishonor, by either sex or any race or creed, and it may not be viewed as a crime by many.

But to those who have served, those have known those who've given their lives or their careers to serving their nation, it is a crime. It is a cowardly and dastardly act.
In the U.S. there are laws on the books for dishonorable creeps who misrepresent themselves. Especially if they're using it to commit fraud, forgery, theft and misappropriation of benefits.

In example: the phony uses the stolen valor to defraud others, or particularly defraud women, as in the case of some bigamists or con artists. But for the majority of these creeps, the most they get off with is public scorn and disgust.

Some frauds wear medals that they are not entitled to.
<...>

Since 1998, Chuck and Mary Schantag, retirees, have exposed close to 1,900 impostors and exposed another 2,000 men who claimed they were in elite units.

Mary Schantag "The lies are changing history. It&#8217;s wrong. It causes the real heroes to be grouped with the phonies and frauds. The integrity and honor should be given to those who really earn it.&#8221;

The Schantag's website details the cases of &#8220;Phonies & Wannabees,&#8221; with stories of the frauds and, sometimes, apologies from soldiers and sailors who lied.

Some of those who "apologized" have continued their phony claims, and in some cases, victimizing other persons.

Other online sleuths work to expose people claiming to be Navy SEALS."

STOLEN VALOR - THOSE WHO USURP IT AND THOSE WHO EXPOSE THE PHONYS

 

[bodecea]

Phony Marine due for arrest - The Denver Post



Once again the left are exposed for the frauds they support.

I'm thrilled to hear that one of these fakers is going to pay for pretending to be a wounded veteran.

And I'm a liberal and a veteran.

So much for you hateful theory, eh?

Hateful theory? No more like the truth. Sorry that you come down on the side of those that have to fake to get their message out.

So, you DO blame all Liberals for the action of a few crooks calling themselves liberal. Are you sure you want to use that form of measurement?

 

[ba1614]

STOLEN VALOR - THOSE WHO USURP IT AND THOSE WHO EXPOSE THE PHONYS

Chuck and Mary Schantag are true patriots for sure. They should be applauded for their efforts.

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